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No. 614,785. Patencsd Nov. 22, |898. W. E. BENNETT.

DEVICE FOR HOLDINGBUTTNS FR ENAMELING, 81.6.

(Application filed Dec. 30, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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I... ..L -L C C C C C UNITED ASTATES ATENT OEETCE. Y

VALTER E. BENNETT, OF PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO THE MORLEY BUTTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING BUTTONS FOR ENAMELING, C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,785, dated November 22, 1898.

Application filed December 30, 1897. Serial No. 664,618. (No model.)

T0 ir/ZZ wtowb it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER E. BENNETT, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented new and useful Improvements in Button-Cards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates tothe manufacture of shank-buttons, and has special reference to means for handling buttons of this class in the process of their manufacture, the object of the invention being the construction of trays or plates in which the but-tons may be more advantageously handled than heretofore and in which they may be removably secured in positions which best adapt them to the processes to which they are to be subjected; and the invention consists in the construction as fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings forming part of this speciiication, Figure lis a plan view of a tray or plate, showing` buttons secured to a portion thereof and showing a part thereof broken away, disclosing the means on the under side for securing said buttons to the tray or plate. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the under side of a tray or plate on a larger scale than Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a part of the tray or plate on a line transverse thereto. Fig. 4 is a plan and section of a part of one of the locking-bars on the under side of the tray or plate. Fig. 5- is a perspective view of one of the shank-engaging lingers of a locking-bar.

In the description of the invention the word tray will be used to indicate the body A, to which the buttons are secured. This is preferably made of thin [iat metal and of such thickness as to give it the requisite stiffness to permit its being handled without bending when iilled with buttons. i

A series of perforations a are made in the tray, suitably spaced transversely and lengthwise thereof to best adapt said trays to the particular kind of buttons which are to be placed thereon. In the accompanying drawings the trays shown are adapted to the use of shoebuttons, (indicated by 23,) though they may be used with advantage in the manufacture of various other forms which are provided with shanks of such shape as will perinit them to be placed on a tray and their Shanks to be passed through suitable aper- 5 5 tures therein and engaged by a locking-bar on the opposite side of said tray, substantially as shown and described herein. The said perforations a are of elongated shape and somewhat larger than the shank of the button 6o to provide for the easy entrance of said shank therein. The buttons b are placed on said trays with their Shanks in the perforations a and protruding beyond the under side of the plate far enough to be engaged by the fingers 65 of the locking-bars B. The buttons are placed in position on the trays in any convenient manner, but preferably by mechanical means, and they are then secured to said tray A by imparting an endwise movement to the lock- 7o ing-bars B, supported for a sliding movement transversely to the looped shank of the buttons in said trays. A convenient means for supporting said locking-bars B is shown in the drawings, which consists in the metal loops O, 7 5 having the form in cross-section of said locking-bars B and riveted or otherwise secured to the under side of the trays Ain proper position. Located transversely of said locking-bars B at proper intervals are the metal iingers D, 8o the ends d of which are disposed in lines parallel with the said locking-bars B and at right angles to the body of the metal fingers D. The latter are rigidly secured to that side of the locking-bars B lying next to the surface 8 5 of the tray and in such position that the surface of the said locking-bars B and said metal iingers D are in Jthe same plane, whereby when said locking-bars are in operative position on the trays A said metal fingers D will 9o lie close to the surface thereof. Vhen said locking-bars B are in position on the under side of the trays A, thedistance between the ends d of said metal fingers D is such that when the locking-bars B are moved endwise the said ends d will move transversely across l the perforations a in said trays and through the looped shank of a button protruding therethrough, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, and the said metal lingers D are so spaced along said bars 10o that one of said lingers will engage two buttons on each of the longitudinal rows, across which said bars move, all of which is clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawings.

Any suitable means for securing the metal fingers D to the locking-bars B may be employed but I prefer to secure them as shown in Fig. i, whereby they are very rigidly attached to the locking-bars and held at the same time against endwise movement. As shown in said Fig. et, the locking-bars B are slotted transversely, the said slots being of rectangular shape in cross-section.

The ingers D are cut away, as at D', for a space equal to the width of the locking-bars B, whereby the shoulders d2 are formed on said fingers, the narrowed part of the body thereof being on one side thereof of the salne width as the slots in the locking-bars and tapered from that side to the opposite upper side, as shown in the sectional view, Fig. 4. Said metal fingers l) are then placed in said slots and with a proper tool the metal along the sides ot' said rectangular slots is forced down against the beveled or tapered sides of said iin gers, securing them rigidly to the bars, and the shoulders d2 of said fingers, fitting closely against opposite sides of the lockingbars B, prevent any endwise movement of the said fingers in the slots in which they lie.

By the use of these trays the handling of the buttons in the various Iinishing processes of manufacture is greatlyT facilitated, especially in the process of applying and baking on the enamel with which they are covered,

said enamel being applied in a liquid state to the buttons on the trays and the latter then placed in racks in a suitable oven for baking and hardening.

Having thus described my invention,\vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A tray for the reception of shank-buttons consisting of a plate, a series of perforations therethrough for the reception of the Shanks of buttons, means for securing said buttons to said tray consisting of a series of movable bars supported on the under side of said tray, and iin gers on said bars having ends parallel with said bars for engaging the shanks of said buttons, when moved thereagainst, substantially as described.

2. A tray for the reception of shankbuttons consisting of a plate, a series of parallel rows of perforations therethrough for the reception of the shanks of said buttons, means for temporarily securing said buttons to said tray consisting of shank-engaging fingers, bars to which said fingers are secured, means for supporting said bars for a sliding movement on the under side of said tray, whereby said shank-engaging fingers are moved transversely across the apertures in said tray, substantially as described.

VALTER E. BENNE'T".

Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMoNs. 

